


Marry me

by reclusiveq



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Courtship, Cute, Dancing, Engagement, Fluff, M/M, Marriage, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 08:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3375194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reclusiveq/pseuds/reclusiveq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky decides that he wants to court Steve properly, to show what he really means to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marry me

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this fic on [beautifullyheeled ](http://beautifullyheeled.tumblr.com) because she has to get me started on courtship.

It started small. Bucky didn’t want to push, he wanted to take things slow. Do this the right way. Sure, this was the 21st century. Things had changed. Things like gay marriage being legal now. People didn’t court anymore. But there were some things that he just couldn’t _not_ do. 

Back in the 40’s, he’d dated a lot of girls, but nothing had ever been serious. He’d never taken that next step because, if he was perfectly honest with himself, he’d never wanted anyone but Steve. Even though he had never acted on his impulses, and neither had Steve, they’d both known that in the end, the only one either of them wanted was each other.

Back then, that had been illegal. These days… things were better now. But there were still steps he had to take. The one thing Bucky wanted Steve to know was that this was serious for him, and that meant adhering to the rules of courtship.

Well, not all the rules. Neither of them had family anymore, except for the family that Steve had acquired simply by being who he was. But Bucky would be damned if he was going to ask any of _them_ for permission to date Steve. He could already hear the jokes that would accompany that question. They just wouldn’t understand.

So that was out, but there were still things that Bucky __could do, and it started with dinner.

~~~  
It was the flowers that made things click for Steve. He’d been wondering what was going on. Bucky had been asking Steve to go out places with him more often, which was completely unlike the Bucky he’d always known. And it was never just the two of them, either. It was always with another couple, sometimes Clint and Natasha, sometimes a couple from a LGBT rally that they had attended last fall. It felt like Steve was missing something important, but it was clearly important to Bucky and Steve would probably always let Bucky have his way these days. 

And Steve might have asked, but they were rarely alone during those nights out and during the day, Bucky was doing what he could to earn money, even if it meant working for the reformed SHIELD. Okay, so Steve hadn’t been at all happy about learning that SHIELD had been rebuilt. He wasn’t even supposed to have known, but that was its own annoyance and for now, Steve was more curious as to what Bucky was up to.

But then, a few months down the road from all of this, Bucky showed up with flowers in hand. Daisies. Steve’s favorite.

“Bucky, what…”

It was funny to see a two hundred pound deadly assassin blush and shift uncomfortably and Steve had to hide a smile as he took the flowers. “It’s what people do, you know? For the person they like. They, uh, bring them flowers.”

And that’s when it clicked. Bucky was courting Steve. That’s what all of this had been about. Steve smiled. “Thanks, Buck. They’re perfect.” The gesture was actually sweet. Steve knew that most people didn’t care about being public about their affections these days. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either, but it had never felt right for _him_. 

So even though both he and Bucky knew that they could have a relationship now without severe recrimination (because who would ever try to attack a super soldier and his ex-assassin boyfriend), they had never acted on that knowledge because the current ways didn’t feel right for them.

But _this_ … This felt right. And that night, when Steve left the tower with Bucky, it was with hands entwined together.

~~~  
When he wasn’t going out with Steve, Bucky was trying to make sure that he could take care of Steve if things worked out. Not that Steve couldn’t just as easily take care of himself, that wasn’t the point. Part of courting was ensuring you had a stable life.

Some nights, Steve was too busy to go out and those days, Bucky attended LGBT-friendly gatherings and quietly gathered information on the dating hotspots and, yes, even preachers who had no problem with this community. He wasn’t really trying to get ahead of himself, but he wanted to be prepared. If some of the people he spoke with guessed what was going on, they happily kept it to themselves.

It was, of course, a two-way street at these meetings, and Bucky slowly, cautiously opened up. Not about his days as the Winter Soldier, but as Bucky Barnes, a kid growing up on the streets of Brooklyn before homosexuality was even remotely tolerated. 

“There were places,” he explained. “A very few that were tolerant.” He talked about a few of the dancing halls that were more tolerant of queers and how every now and then, he and Steve would run off to find one. “I haven’t danced to jazz since then. Don’t think that dancing exists anymore. But I’m sure you guys have lots more places to go.”

“Actually, sir.” One of the older people smiled at him. Bucky had to resist the urge to correct the ‘sir. Bucky was not now, nor had he ever been a ‘sir’. “There is still a place where they play jazz music.”

Bucky blinked at him, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “Oh?”

 

~~~  
Steve was constantly amazed at how Bucky managed to find all the best places to go, like their first date at a small diner on 34th street that had the best apple pie in the city. But this was about to take the cake. He knew as soon as Bucky told him what to wear and where to meet him what Bucky was planning.

Of course, just like so many other things, the image in his head paled in comparison to reality. It was like stepping back in time as he entered the jazz club. Bucky stood just inside the door, wearing his old army uniform (where _had_ he found that and how the hell did it still fit him so well).

Steve felt like he was looking at the old Bucky, the night before he shipped out, ready to dance. Was this what he had missed that night?

Bucky looked over and Steve could see him taking in the sight of Steve’s own white button-up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Steve walked over, with what he imagined was a rather goofy grin. “Hey soldier. Want to dance?”

“Love to,” Bucky grinned, taking Steve’s hand and leading him out to the dance floor. As they danced, the rest of the world just seemed to fall away and it was only when they finished the song did they realise that everyone else was watching them with open amazement.

~~~  
Eventually, they stopped the double dates. Sometimes they would go to see a movie (the movies always varied from cartoons to horror to older movies at a local art house theater). Once, Bucky and Steve snuck a kiss outside the movies. Usually they kept the kissing private.

The kissing was great, if a little awkward at first. Maybe Steve had kissed people after 1945, but Bucky had been a little busy with other things and these were his first kisses since then. Definitely his first with not just another man, but the man he loved. 

Their kissing went from being chaste to being a little more heated to them practically grinding in each other’s laps until Bucky was worried he wouldn’t be able to stop himself at just kissing. That’s when he knew it was time. He just had one stop to make beforehand.

“...so that’s the story,” Bucky said, smiling at the woman lying in the hospital bed. Bucky had never been close to Peggy himself, except where she meant a lot to Steve. Had things worked out differently, _she_ might have been asking _him_ this question. “So I’d like to ask you for Steve’s hand.”

“Oh, James. Of course I approve. Not that you needed to ask. Steve is perfectly capable of speaking for himself.” 

“I know. I just… This felt right, to me. Especially since you and him…”

Peggy beamed at him. “I always knew how you felt, the way you looked at him as if he were the sun. I looked at him the same way sometimes.”

“I know you did, Peggy. Thank you.”

 

~~~  
Steve didn’t know what he had been expecting on this date, but it definitely wasn’t this. The balcony was quiet, just the two of them looking out over the city in the cool night air. Steve’s heart was beating fast as Bucky knelt down and took his hand. “Steve, I love you and all I want is to never have to leave your side again. You don’t have to answer, but… well, what I’m trying to say is… Will you marry me?”

Steve broke into a grin. “Yes!” He exclaimed, then gripped the front of Bucky’s shirt and pulled him up for a kiss, the first real breach of protocol through this whole courtship, but they had the balcony to themselves, so it wasn’t _quite_ public.

He forced himself to break the kiss, his grin widening at the sight of Bucky looking slightly disheveled from the act. Bucky was grinning too as he pulled a box from his pocket and opened it. Inside sat a simple ring, not in the colors of red, white, and blue that everyone else seemed to think he liked, but rather it was a silver band with an emerald stone set into it.

“I love you, punk,” Bucky said, sliding the ring onto Steve’s finger. Of course it was a perfect fit.

“Love you too, jerk.” Steve grinned.

~~~  
The wedding was a small affair, despite Tony wanting to bring in the TV crews to show Cap’s controversial marriage to his male lover. That would be displayed in the tabloids later on, but this moment, Bucky wanted to just keep between friends and family.

After talking it over, they opted to not do sides. Most of the people who were coming would be there for Steve more than Bucky anyway and Bucky was fine with that. Maybe it had taken some getting used to at first, but Bucky really was happy for Steve. He had sent off invitations to a few people from the LGBT rally, but he hadn’t really expected anyone to show up. Boy, was he wrong. Somehow, they ended up with a full house as people he recognized from the rally came in and found seats. 

Bucky didn’t cry easily, but this support was making him close and when the music began and then Steve was walking down the aisle towards him, Bucky knew he was crying openly. The music ended and Steve was next to him, holding his hands as they listened to the preacher read the ceremony. Steve and Bucky read the vows they’d written themselves (“Not without you, pal” and “To the end of the line” nearly made Bucky choke up, but he got the words out) and then they were kissing and the preacher was announcing them married officially and there was cheering but all Bucky could see was Steve.

Bucky was glad that they had opted for the larger reception hall and everyone did their toasts. As if Bucky wasn’t crying enough already, several people came over to talk to him personally and thank him for everything, which surprised him. But it also made him happy.

By the end of the night, though, he was ready to go home with Steve and just enjoy the rest of their life together. On the way out the door, Sam grinned and handed over the keys to Steve’s motorcycle. “Do you know where you’re honeymooning?”

Steve grinned. “Thought we might stop off in Paris for a late night fondue,” he joked and even if Sam didn’t get the joke, Bucky sure did and laughed for a good long while as they made their way over to the motorcycle that was decked out with a “Just Got Married” sign on the back and streamers on the handlebars.


End file.
